1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel hand grip for carrying loaded plastic bags, and particularly to a hand grip which captures and holds temporarily the integral plastic handles of the bags.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many retail establishments, especially supermarkets, provide inexpensive plastic bags into which the multiplicity of purchased articles are loaded and then transported. The bags are made of thin flexible plastic sheet material, and have an open side for loading the articles into the bag, and two (2) flexible handles formed in the bag walls at the open side of the bag, as by punching or blanking a handle opening into the bag walls.
The retail customer usually leaves the retailer with several bags held by the handles thereof grasped in one or both of his hands. The handles, of course, are made of the flimsy plastic sheet material of the bag and do not retain their shape, but conform to the shape of the customers' hands. Where the contents of a bag is heavy, there is considerable localized pressure across the customers hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,640 to R. W. Enersen illustrates such a bag and, to overcome the foregoing problem, provides a handle or hand grip comprising an elongated member that is shaped to be grasped by the hand of the customer. The elongated member has a longitudinal slot herein for receiving the handles of a bag. As the bag is being carried, the bag handles press down in the slot and the pressure thereof is distributed by the elongated member more evenly over the fingers of the hand. When the bags are set down, the handles may or may not pop out of the slot in the elongated member. Where the loaded bags may be hand-carried to an automobile, and stored there until they are again hand-carried from the automobile into a residence, it is desirable that the hand grip captures the bag handles and holds them temporarily until it is desired to release them.
Other hand grips disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,912,140 to H. M. Franges; 3,913,172 to G. Richards; and 4,004,722, have longitudinal slots for receiving and holding rope handles of carrier bags therein. These latter hand grips involve complicated structures and generally are intended for use with a single bag or package and require a bendable plastic elongated member which is prone to breaking.